I had a funny conversation the other day on a family zoom: I mentioned how I knew many of them read my blog but never commented, and my youngest sister says, what, you are still blogging, I thought you quit ages ago!

Which, I suppose in a way I did, and then I kept it up! So here we are. It’s the first week of the fall semester for me, in a way, but also the end of summer, and it’s UNBEARABLY HOT outside. The humidity is real.

I say in a way, because this week I started teaching my private students fall schedule, but next week I start with the college kids at Wash U. I’m working on that schedule. And then a few weeks later I start my other school job where I teach before school, and along the way gigs and concerts start ramping up, and before I know it my schedule is super crazy!

But things are well. The summer was fun and relaxing and I did many of the things I wanted to do. Many are still left to do, and I’m trying to prioritize that. I weirdly hurt my shoulder last week doing something–literally I don’t even know–so it’s been feeling gradually better. I tried to run a few times in the horrific humidity: one time unsuccessful due to the shoulder pain, but the second time more successfully.

We’ve done some fun things lately: Saturday night was especially fun. Louie and I walked over to a place called Joe’s Cafe and watched some friends perform with a group there. It was a lot of jazz/latin music, some improv, some written, and so much fun! I always plan things to do, and then right before usually wish I could just stay home and chill, but usually the things are way more fun than staying home would be, and this was an evening that will stick with me for longer! Ranya is one of the first friends I made when I moved to St Louis, and she is an awesome cello player, and Alyssa and Asako were the two violinists, and they both have different styles of playing and are both terrific at what they do. The rest of the band was good too, and the group kept us entertained the whole evening.

I’ve been making a point to get together with friends more often: the pandemic got me out of that habit, and I know that it is so easy to do nothing and it’s harder to get that inertia going, but so well worth it. In the past week I’ve gotten together several times with friends and every time it was so much fun and made me happier. Which was absolutely the intention, and hopefully it did the same for them! It’s also nice to chat with someone other than Louie: we spend a lot of time together, especially over the summer, and it’s always good to get together with others. It’s so easy to just hang out with the other person in your relationship, isn’t it? And then you work a ton, and then just want to watch TV and rinse, repeat.

I’m looking forward to a wonderful semester. I know it will be pretty busy, but I am hoping to stay on top of things, have time for exercise and social activities and keep organized. I’ve mentioned I started using a paper planner again for day to day planning. I got into a planning podcast this summer which is by a blogger I’ve read for years (the SHUBox) and that made me want to try paper planning again. I’m using a 90 day planner by Savor Beauty, which is actually a little ridiculous, but I love the reflection pages, which are making me really think about what I want out of life. It’s so easy to get into the day by day of life and just let things happen rather than really considering what I want, and it’s been fun to work on that. I also enjoy having my goals for each day set out (for days when there is time aside from appointments) and then checking things off. I still of course use my google calendar for all things and My Music Staff for teaching lessons organization, but this is for the on the ground day to day stuff. We’ll see how it works during the hectic fall times!

Anyway, that’s all my boring stuff. I’ll end with a cartoon that I saw online that made me laugh.